Is Donald Trump Serious About Running For President?

February 16, 2011 — Ron Chusid

I’ve often pointed out that in recent years conservative beliefs have become so absurd that it is often difficult to tell the difference between real conservative beliefs and parody. Even some conservatives have difficulty with this, such as conservatives who take Stephen Colbert seriously. Jonathan Chait is now having difficulty telling whether Donald Trump is serious about running for president or if this is some sort of a joke.

Donald Trump changed his registration to Republican in 2009 and his views expressed at CPAC and in recent interviews have taken a sharp turn to the right. In 2007 Trump was calling George Bush “probably the worst president in the history of the United States.” He also identified with the Democrats on many issues, even pointing out that “the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republican.” Now Trump follows the conservative line, such as blaming Obama for the loss of respect faced by the United States which he very well knows was caused by George Bush.

Personally I see registration as a Republican and taking up GOP talking points as a sign that someone is considering running in the Republican primaries, but I can see where Chait might see this all as a joke. In 1999 Trump was strongly pro-choice but now opposes the basic right of a woman to control her own body. Trump not only changed his position on abortion but had a rather ridiculous explanation for the flip-flop from the executive vice president of his organization:

“People change their positions all the time, the way they change their wives,’’ said Cohen, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and the founder of a website called ShouldTrumpRun.com.

I’d love to see a Republican debate where past statements in favor of abortion rights are pulled up from both Trump and Mitt Romney. I much prefer both the old Donald Trump and the Mitt Romney of 1994.

This explanation for the change in position on abortion rights is not the only item which could lead one to believe Trump’s candidacy is a parody. Take a look at this graphic at ShouldTrumpRun.com:

“It’s cold outside…so where’s the global warming?” Sure, any intelligent, educated person would laugh at this, but this is just the sort of nonsense which many Republicans believe. Trump probably does realize this makes no sense, but also realizes that this is the type of thing which needs to be said to attract votes from the Republican base. There’s nothing surprising about people saying things they know are absurd to attract conservatives. People like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh do it all the time.